Cause Marketing

Nine local stations in my market are conducting a two-day radiothon benefiting the State’s largest homeless shelter... called the Road Home... yesterday and today. Their fundraising goal is $250,000 . This pales in comparison to the big dogs of radiothons, Children’s Miracle Network and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital , which generate tens of millions of dollars. But it’s an admirable effort nonetheless, none the least of which because it involves stations from two separate ownership groups and multiple radio formats! After getting killed in the early days of the Great Recession the Radio Advertising Bureau reports that radio has grown in 2010 , although more so at the national than local level. Still, how do you do ask a local radio station to do a radiothon at a time when stations can't afford to turn down even one ad? Here’s how: most stations do change the way they format their programming during the radiothon, but the time spent talking about the cause comes out of the ...

Quick post today; ate something last night that doesn’t agree with me. Two of the biggest cause marketing charities, Children’s Miracle Network and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital both do successful national radiothons, which are like telethons only broadcast on the radio. What do I mean by successful? I’m talking about tens of millions of dollars raised a year. But you don’t have to be a big national charity to pull off a successful radiothon. In my market the local homeless shelter called, The Road Home , does a radiothon with seven area radio stations with different ownerships and formats. Between them they generated more than $340,000 last year.  How do you do ask a local radio station to do a radiothon at a time when stations are struggling for ad every dollar? Well, I’m going to share the secret. Most radiothon stations do change their formats. But the time spent talking about the cause comes out of the music rather than the ad ‘budget.’ A delicate balance ha...